


till we meet again

by akinoriko



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Dreams, Happy Ending, Light Angst, M/M, Time Skips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-01
Updated: 2019-05-01
Packaged: 2020-02-10 20:58:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18668248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akinoriko/pseuds/akinoriko
Summary: “We’ll always find each other, wherever we are, no matter how long.”The arms around Kuroo tightens as Kenma buries his face in his shirt, humming in acknowledgement of the promise that both of them will surely keep for the rest of their lives.





	till we meet again

**Author's Note:**

> the title was supposed to give off the heavy angst feeling I initially planned on going with this so even though I changed mostly everything, I kept it. 
> 
> I hope you'll enjoy reading! ♡

_Kuroo can see the faint red light radiating from the sunset through his closed eyelids as the train goes, his head leaning against the window behind their own seat._

_He’s not fully asleep, but he is most likely sitting somewhere between the reality and a dream._

_He can still hear other passenger's voices and laughs, the low volume of a song playing through train's speakers mixing with another more familiar tune beating just right beside him._

_His skin can still feel the coldness of the air surrounding them inside the train, blending with the warmth coming off from the remaining heat of the afternoon light, and the presence of someone seated close to him._

_When the familiar tune disappeared, he opened his eyes slowly and sees that Kenma was already looking at him. “What?” Kuroo asks, a playful smile forming on his lips._

_Kenma takes him take dragging his gaze from his eyes to his nose, then to his lips, and to a part of his bare neck. He shrugs his shoulders in the end and turns his attention back to the game on his phone as he presses ‘resume’._

_“What?” Kuroo repeats with a laugh, nudging Kenma with his elbow._

_Kenma speaks without turning his eyes away from the screen. “I just noticed you were sleeping.”_

_“I’m not sleeping.” Kuroo says back with a chuckle which only made Kenma response with a stern hum._

_During their early years together, Kuroo discovered that this has been his way of dismissing a conversation that doesn’t interest him. Kenma never makes an effort when he doesn't want to, only doing so when he wants to or if he thinks it's worth even trying. Typical Kenma._

_He usually does it to Kuroo's friends, and mostly to his classmates, when he tries to bite down an insult or a witty comment that would come out as rude for people who barely knew him._

_Just this morning, he did the same thing to one of their teammates. The angry one. They had gotten pretty close after the incident where he ends up shouting at him, yet it was one of the days that Kenma felt lazy to even play along with him when he starts gushing about the basketball club's beautiful manager._

_It ends up with their teammate getting mad and Kenma stomping to the back of the gym to hide for "peace and quiet"._

_Kuroo snorts at the memory._

_People who knew Kenma had always seen him as either mean... or shy._

_Kuroo would agree with both sides, though. He knows Kenma like the back of his hand, like how Kenma knows his Pokemon Guide Book which he had since they were ten years old. He remembers what page a specific Pokemon is in, their type and even the complicated spelling of their names. Kuroo could never understand, which leaves him always in awe whenever they play the "which page this pokemon is?" game._

_Kuroo knows everything there is to know about Kenma, from the time of his birth to where he got the scar on between in his fourth and little toes. He can read Kenma like an open book._

_(Might as well make him write a Kozume Kenma Guide Book instead.)_

_He places his arm at the back of his seat, his forearm almost touching Kenma’s back, his lips curling into his usual shit-eating grin. “If I were sleeping, I won’t notice you staring at me.”_

_It made Kenma huff out a breath, obviously amused by Kuroo's usual tactics. Kenma glances from the corner of his eyes then back to the game. “I was not staring.”_

_Kuroo leans closer, his nose brushing against Kenma’s hair. “But you are.”_

_“Am not.” Kenma responds with his annoyed voice yet subtly leaning closer to Kuroo. He smiled at the action which indicates that he's not as angry as he tries to be. He wraps his arm around Kenma’s shoulders, tugging him even closer. He softly placed his hand on Kenma’s cheek as he turns his head to face him._

_The furrowed eyebrows and evident blush on Kenma’s face made him smile fondly._

_“You so are.” He says in a whisper as he closes the distance between their lips._

*

“-su-chan! Tetsu-chan!”

Kuroo was greeted by Oikawa’s face when he snapped his eyes open, only to close it again after being blinded by the sunlight that surrounded his room, pulling his blanket over his head.

“Tetsu-chan! Get up! Oh my god.” Oikawa takes the blanket off him and pulls on Kuroo’s ankle. “C’mon, get up!”

“What do you want? It’s Sunday! Let me sleep!”

Even with eyes closed, he knows Oikawa’s pouting the second he released Kuroo. He couldn’t even bother getting up just to check the time. He went to sleep knowing it was the weekend and that he can rest for as long as he wanted.

That obviously won’t ever happen since Oikawa is inside his apartment.

Kuroo turns his back to Oikawa and uses two of his pillows to cover his ears from the sounds that the intruder had been making random noises for the past minute.

“You promised to go out with us!” Oikawa whines, trying so hard to pull the pillow off his head. “Kou-chan is already here and you know I don’t want to hang out with him alone. I would die!”

In spite, Kuroo releases the pillow that Oikawa was tugging and opened an eye just to watch him roll over the floor. It didn’t take that long for Oikawa to recover and threw the pillow back at Kuroo. “You meanie!”

Kuroo sits up with a laugh, takes the pillow and places it over the other neatly on his bed. “Okay! I’m up, I’m up,” he says while running his fingers through his hair, still hoping to tame it down even after all the years it wouldn't stay down.

Oikawa haven't stopped talking since he entered Kuroo’s room so the sudden silence took him by surprise. Kuroo notices him staring. “What?”

“You’re happy.”

Kuroo raises an eyebrow at his words, confused and offended at the same time. “Rude.”

“Hey, you can’t blame me! You’re never _happy_ when you're being forced out of bed.” Oikawa takes a seat beside him on the bed as he quoted the word _happy_ with his fingers, looking at him excitedly as if he haven’t been with him the second he woke up and the day before. As if he was waiting for Kuroo to spill some things that he couldn’t have possibly known. “Why is that?”

But then, Kuroo couldn’t deny how Oikawa had a point. He woke up in a good mood despite being woken up forcefully. He can tell it was the dream.

Unfortunately for both of them, he could barely remember what it was about.

He does remember the warm feeling that emits from the other person from the dream. The eyes looked at him with full of love and importance. Now that he's awake, he couldn’t make up their face but he knows they were someone close to him.

Someone once told him that dreams could somehow be precognitive. That it would certainly happen if you keep the dream to yourself. That was such a childish memory, but Kuroo chooses to believe it anyway.

“Just a really good dream.” He looks at his palm as he answers nonetheless with a soft smile.

*

_A week ago, an invitation came to their mail for a party that Kuroo never heard about. He thought the mailer might have sent it to the wrong apartment. He was about to call the courier back but the name that it was addressed to proved his suspicion wrong._

_"That's mine," Kenma told him when he noticed Kuroo frozen in their doorstep._

_Three days after, Kenma insisted on buying a pair of suits. Kuroo bombarded him loads of questions about the said party but only got ‘it's your kind of thing, right?’ following a smirk as an answer to his every how, what and why's._

_It was enough to keep Kuroo's mouth shut after that. Not without a blush forming in his face every time he thinks about how Kenma initiated on getting them an invitation for a cocktail party._

_Which, he takes note, not Kenma’s thing at all._

_So here they are now, wearing their customized suits, greeting every single one of Kenma's office mates with a wine glass in hand. It was certainly weird hearing Kenma introduce him to each one of them as his boyfriend._

_Kuroo have barely finished his first glass and people might start thinking he already finished two bottles with how red his face had gotten._

_After greeting mostly everyone present in the party, Kenma pulled Kuroo away to the corner._

_"Are you okay?"  Kenma asks worriedly._

_Kuroo breathes out a huff. "You're asking me if I'm okay? You just spent past half an hour introducing me as your boyfriend. Yeah, sure. I'm okay." He explains sarcastically, giving his half empty glass to a waiter, flashing him a small smile as he took it and walked away._

_Kenma snorts at him and takes another sip from his own glass._

_"Why are we here?" Kuroo asks again, for the nth time since he saw the invitation._

_The music changes to the next and instead of answering to his question, Kenma chugged down the last of his drink, handing the empty glass to the passing waiter and tugs Kuroo's hand towards the dance floor. "Let's dance to this one."_

_"Eh?" Kuroo's eyes grew with his boyfriend's actions and he remained frozen when they reached the center. Kenma guides Kuroo's arms around his waist and his own arms around Kuroo's neck._

_They are just as close as every pair in the floor and none of them seems to be noticing the people around them. It was like they are inside their own worlds and nothing could ever happen that would separate them._

_"Relax." Kenma whispers to him when he pulled his neck down, letting Kuroo's forehead rest against his._

_It made Kuroo blush yet again while letting Kenma guide their bodies in tune to the melody of the soft song._

_"What is this, really?" Kuroo whispers back, closing Kenma in a tighter embrace._

_Kenma closes his eyes and smiles before pulling Kuroo closer, setting his chin on his shoulder. "I bought some insoles so I could be a little taller."_

_Kuroo snorts. "Yeah, I paid for them."_

_He knows better then to try asking again so Kuroo gives up and let himself be comforted by Kenma's arms around him and the song that plays while their bodies sways to it._

_Kuroo closes his eyes as he buries his nose in the crook of Kenma's neck, breathing in the scent that he had come to love and treasure for the past years and most likely, for the years to come. He smiles against his skin._

_"Take.. my.. hand.." Kenma whispers and Kuroo opens his eyes, pulling his head back to meet Kenma's eyes in confusion. He was about to open his mouth to ask another question yet closes it again, realizing Kenma was singing along. "Take my whole life too."_

_Kuroo laughs quietly when he saw Kenma's smile but at the same time, he can already feel some tears forming in the corner of his eyes. He blinks the tears away while Kenma's hands moved to touch his cheeks._

_Kenma sang the rest of the song in a whisper as Kuroo let his eyesight turn blurry._

_"For I can't help falling in love with you."_

*

Like any other day for the two weeks, Kuroo woke up in a good mood despite having to stay up most of the night finishing a project. He went to his class skipping, until a classmate teased him for having too much energy that early morning.

Every student who bumped into him asks him questions about his mood. They only received a smile and a shrug of his shoulder as an answer, though.

He entered their class and took his usual seat while humming to himself.

"Is that a love song?" Akaashi asks as he took the seat beside Kuroo's, greeting him a low _good morning._

Kuroo looks up at Akaashi as he greeted back before raising a confused eyebrow at his question.

"What song?"

"You're humming. It sounds familiar too." Akaashi tips his chin up slightly before taking out his phone and notebook, placing them neatly on his desk.

"Oh." Kuroo places his bag on his desk, smiling to himself. "Yeah, it's that English song. Can't help falling in love."

Akaashi throws him a muddled look. "That’s unusual for you, Kuroo-san. Did you finally meet someone?"

Kuroo places his chin on his hand, elbow on his desk. He avoided Akaashi's eyes, keeping his gaze at the white clean board in front of the class. He stays quiet for a while, letting the noise of their other classmates entering their classroom envelopes the two of them.

It would be a lie of Kuroo were to say that _he didn’t_ , but then, he knows it would come out just as much of a lie if he were say that _he did_.

The truth, however, comes closer to the answer: _He didn’t_.

He closes his eyes for a second, remembering how he got caught humming the song in the first place. It was most likely a song he heard on his way to class, might have been one of the stores that opens early outside his apartment. Maybe it was one of the students that he bumped into that has their earphones' volume set to max that he could hear what they were listening to.

Kuroo tries to dig up for any excuse, anything that would prevent his friend to think that there is actually someone in his life. Because him? _In love_? Even he finds it ridiculous.

"I just heard it in a radio this morning." He lies smoothly with a shrug of his shoulder.

He can feel Akaashi's gaze on him for a second before Kuroo notices him acknowledge the lie with a nod.

When one of their classmate manages to take Akaashi's attention away from him, he sighs in relief. As to why, he doesn't know.

But for now, he knows that he isn't ready to answer any questions involving his own love life.

Kuroo tries to prevent himself from singing the song to avoid being suspected but he still ends up humming it unconsciously for the rest of the day.

*

_He might have been literally dragging his feet up to his apartment door. It feels like he was carrying the whole world on his shoulders and all he wanted to do now is lay down in his bed, to be bothered by no one._

_By the time he reached his front door, he suddenly remembered how his phone was unusually quiet for the entire. It’s Friday. His friends would have sent him a dozen of text messages to invite to a overnight party or Kenma checking up on him. But he received nothing._

_He thinks it might also have been just the lack of checking considering how he had been busy the entire day._

_Yeah, that must be it._

_Exams, presentation, club practice. It was one hell of a day. Kuroo sighs at himself as he opened the door to his apartment. He reminded himself to check his phone after he takes a bath._

_“Happy birthday!” Kenma greets with the sudden noise of a party popper. Kuroo jumps in surprise._

_He should get mad. He has been mentally and physically suffering and seeing the mess on the floor is making his mood turn into something sour._

_But he couldn’t, as the voice finally registered inside his head._

_It was the sweet voice that he had been pining for who knows how long. The sight of Kenma wearing a ridiculous party hat, the huge banner that says happy birthday hanging across his living room, balloons scattered across the floor, the eyes that looked directly at him._

_The eyes. The pair of gold cat-like eyes._

_“I love you.” He hasn’t even crossed the threshold but Kuroo knew it was something he had to say. His sight were starting to get blurry and while wiping off his tears, Kenma pulls him inside and closes the door behind them._

_“That isn’t something that you should be saying on your birthday.” Kenma deadpans, as if he doesn’t know how the surprise would affect Kuroo. The little adorable gremlin._

_“Yes, it is!” His reply came out more of a whine. Kuroo really had a tiring day and all he wanted to do was lay down and sleep for as long as he can. But with Kenma around, he already felt rested, like he could experience the day five times more._

_Kuroo faces the boy and wrapped his arms around him tightly. “I love you so much.”_

_Kenma stays stiff so Kuroo is starts to expect for him to push him away. Tell him how they should be eating the food he worked so hard on, the cake he bought, talk about their day by the table._

_His thoughts were stopped when Kenma wraps both of his comfort arms around Kuroo and whispers closely in his ear. “I love you too.”_

*

The library is the only place where Kuroo could spend some time by himself. Even though he was surrounded by students, friends, and teachers, he knows he can still be alone and finish the sketch that should be done in time for their class exhibit.

Two more weeks. Kuroo sighs.

It was really frustrating how he still doesn’t have an idea what to draw. Even though the theme that was chosen by their professor should be an easy one: Love.

Kuroo have a wide variety of things that he loves. Like, his friends. His parents. His angry cat from his childhood. Science. He can list countless of things that screams love inside of him, but Kuroo thinks none of them would be perfect for the exhibit.

He stares at the blank sheet of paper in front of him and seconds later, closes his eyes. He tries to think about something else that relates to the word Love.

Or _someone_ , maybe.

He can see a person - a boy, with black hair, sometimes blonde or sometimes a combination of both. Someone shorter than him. Someone with golden sharp eyes that are remotely close to a cat’s eyes. Someone who makes him feel like spring in the middle of summer. Someone with a fitted body but can be softer than three pillows combined. Someone-

“Kuroo!”

He snaps his eyes open and sees Bokuto taking the empty seat across him. People around them have their glares directed at his best friend which made him bow to them with whispered apologies.

“This isn’t exactly your place, Bo.” Kuroo says as he pinches the bridge of his nose.

Bokuto huffs at his words. “That’s rude.”

“What are you doing here anyway?”

In an instant, Bokuto smiles at him and sets his gym bag at the seat beside him.

“Well, I was waiting for Akaashi and saw you here. Thought might hang out with my best friend while waiting.”

Kuroo smiled back at him, a hint of envy creeping up in the pit of his stomach. He brushes the feeling away. “Well, that’s cute. Are you done with practice?”

“Yeah, just a while ago. Listen, we have this really energetic first year who looks up to me. He asked me to teach him a lot of things. Although he had to leave earlier today since he had to home with that friend of his.” Bokuto chatters in a much softer voice.

Kuroo picks up his pencil to sketch something but stops when he heard an information that he haven't heard from Akaashi. “Friend?”

“Oh right, you should meet Hinata and his second year friend. He’s really awkward at first but he’s starting to be mean to me lately. He gets along really well with Akaashi though. I don’t know how he does that.” Bokuto laughs, resulting to people around them _shh_ -ing them. The librarian pointed her fore and middle fingers from her eyes then directed her fingers to them. Kuroo smiles at her and bows his head apologetically before turning back to Bokuto. "Quiet down, you."

Bokuto covers his mouth with a hand and whispers another  _sorry_.

Kuroo sighs at himself and proceeds to sketch something on the paper. He tries to remember the person inside his head. He draws a circle line for the head, various lines for the hair, sharp and narrowed eyes, small nose and lips-

"Hey! That looks familiar!" Bokuto points a finger at his sketchbook, his voice loud. Unfortunately to both of them, it was the last straw for everyone else inside the library.

The librarian approaches them and _politely_ asks them to leave even though her eyes are evidently twitching in anger.

Bokuto apologizes again to Kuroo with a dejected expression drawn in his face. Kuroo sighs defeatedly and hooks his arm around his best friend's shoulder.

"That's okay. I needed to take some break anyway. Let's get something to eat while you wait for your prince charming."

*

_"I don't think I can go on a date with you anymore, after this."_

_Those were the last words that they left Kuroo and they had been the fifth one. He was getting tired of the rejections._

_It wasn't like him to begin with; going on group blind dates with his classmates and their mutual friends, then picks a random stranger to make out with. If he thinks they clicked, he'd invite them to go on few dates._

_Now that he thought about it, they did more kissing instead of having an actual conversation like any other normal dates should be._

_Kuroo can’t even remember anything about them besides their names, age and school. He_ _liked every single one of them, that's for certain. But in the end, he still can't bring himself to choose any of them._

_He felt Kenma's eyes on him when he entered his room but neither of them acknowledged his presence. Kenma went back to his game and Kuroo sat on the floor, leaning his back against the bed with Kenma's legs hanging beside him._

_They let the music from Kingdom Hearts surround them for few seconds before Kuroo dropped his head on Kenma's lap. During the cutscene, Kenma placed his hand on his head._

_The cutscene shows how Sora finally defeated Aqua. When the darkness tried to take over Aqua's body again, Sora jumped in to take her hand, bringing her back to the light. Aqua was stuck in the darkness for a decade. Thinking no one would ever come for her, she gives herself up to the darkness. "You're home." Sora says to her as she opened her eyes. Tears fell like rain as she hugged Sora and the others._

_"That’s so sad." Kuroo says while his own tears started to flow, letting every drop fall on Kenma's lap._

_Kenma continued to run his fingers through his messy black hair without complain and paused the game as he waited for Kuroo to calm down._

_Only the sound of Kuroo's crying can be heard inside the room and Kenma never stopped touching his head. No comfort words were needed, no question were ever asked. Right beside Kenma had always been Kuroo's solace._

_How could he ever think he could find the same peace and comfort with someone else?_

_Kuroo sits up straight while wiping the tears off his face. He takes Kenma's hands from his lap and squeezes them tightly. "Kenma," he starts even with voice hoarse. "I can't continue kissing strangers, and pretending that they're you."_

_His voice sounds a lot more desperate than he intended them to but he can't bring himself to care anymore. Kuroo had been putting off his feelings for his childhood friend far too long._

_If this ends their friendship then, so be it._

_Kenma pulls his hands off and Kuroo felt like his world crumbling. He knows Kenma would react like this, he knows he would never feel the same. Kuroo will always be a childhood friend to Kenma, nothing more, nothing less. He knows all these but he still chooses to hold onto the little ray of hope that he might feel the same._

_Suddenly, all the worry that Kuroo had inside his head has been washed away as he saw the smile on Kenma’s face._

_Kenma touches his cheeks with both of his hands, softly leaning his forehead against Kuroo's._

_"You're an idiot, Kuro."_

*

It's Tuesday and Kuroo didn't have afternoon classes. He wanted to go home and continue working on his project but Bokuto insisted on meeting today. _I want to introduce you to someone_ , he told him the day before.

Akaashi texted him beforehand that Bokuto was about to brag the very energetic freshman that recently joined their volleyball club. _Koutarou wanted to be a surprise so please act like it_ , his last text says. Kuroo snorts at it.

"Kuroo! Here!" Bokuto screams from the top of his lungs while waving his hand around. People in the cafeteria turned to look at Kuroo because of it. Kuroo sighs fondly anyway, shaking his head.

Ignoring the eyes directed to him, he made his way to his friends and takes the empty seat beside Bokuto. Across the table, he sees an unfamiliar face with orange head. With sparkles visible in his eyes, Kuroo could already tell this was the freshman that Bokuto seems to never shut up about.

"Kuroo, meet Hinata! The freshman-" Bokuto introduces, only to be interrupted by Kuroo. "Yes, Hinata Shoyou. I've heard so much about you, I feel like I've known you forever." He says with a smirk. He hears Akaashi sigh from his side.

"And you're Kuroo-san! Wow. It's really nice to finally meet Bokuto-san's friends." Hinata says excitedly.

Kuroo watches him ramble about the things about their club which he had been hearing from Bokuto for countless of times. He isn't rude enough to stop the kid from being excited. It was just rare to see someone this energetic, especially with his size. Kuroo thinks he could be a literal ball of sunshine.

"Oh! A friend called me that too." Hinata says, directing to him. Kuroo raises his eyebrows. He might have said it out loud.

Bokuto snaps his finger but Akaashi beat him in speaking first. "You mean, Kenma-san?"

 _Kenma._ Kuroo freezes in his spot.

"Ah, right! You said you'd bring him today. What happened?" Bokuto asks as he takes a sip from his drink.

"Kenma went home after our first class today. He said he wasn't feeling well. I'm thinking of visiting him today with Kageyama." Hinata explains. He takes out his phone and checks the time. "Kageyama's gonna be done with his class in few minutes. You wanna come with us?"

_Kenma._

Akaashi takes a quick glance at Bokuto before turning back to Hinata. "Are you sure Kenma-san would be okay with us there?"

_Kenma._

"Of course! I'm sure he'll be happy to meet Kuroo-san as well."

_Kenma._

The name won't stop ringing inside Kuroo's head. It sounds very familiar but his head refuses to dig the memory wherever he heard it. The name brings him joy but he can also feel pain creeping up in his spine, his throat clogged up, tears itching to fall.

His ear can pick up voices but it wasn't Bokuto's, nor Akaashi's. It definitely doesn’t sound like Hinata’s.

He closes his eyes to shake the noise inside his head but the image of a boy appeared instead, smiling softly at him.

_"Kuro."_

He stands quickly with a slam of his hands on the table, obtaining the attention of the three people seated around it. "Kuroo?" Bokuto asks worriedly.

Kuroo feels like the world is shaking and he can't stand still. He holds his head and smiles weakly at his friends. "I, uh. I have to go. I think I'm not feeling well myself." He takes his bag and hooks it over his shoulder. "I'll see you guys tomorrow. Tell... _your friend_ , get well soon."

He didn't wait for them to acknowledge his words, knowing they'll just end up questioning his condition. It's not something that Kuroo knows how to explain yet so he storms out of the cafeteria, back to his apartment.

After slipping off his shoes disorderly by the entrance, Kuroo makes his way to his room, throwing his bag on his bed. On his desk, there lies a sketchbook. He slowly flips them over and recognizes his drawings.

First few pages were the places he had been; a cafe he once visited with Bokuto, the gym where he went to hang out with Akaashi while waiting for his boyfriend, the cherry blossoms garden at the back of their university, the view from his room's window during winter: street and cars covered in snow.

Kuroo almost never drew sketches of people yet the succeeding drawings are. Or more like, a _person_.

First page is a kid. His hands are inside his shorts, his eyes are looking down at the abandoned ball by his foot, he has his grumpy face on, dirt drawn all over his skin and clothes.

Second is most likely a teenager. He doesn't have a smile on but he doesn't have a frown, either. He's wearing the black buttoned up uniform from middle school, a bag hooked over his shoulders. He isn't smiling, but Kuroo knows he's happy.

He feels a sharp pain inside his chest looking at it.

Third is an unfinished work but in his head, he sees him clearly. A high schooler. Kuroo has the uniform drawn inside his head, _like a memory_ , even though he can’t recognize which school it was from. The drawing would result in black and white, yet he knows which strands of hair is supposed to be colored yellow.

Kuroo thinks they are all the same person. He should be wondering about his mysterious model, the person who had been constantly appearing in his dreams, _the name that his friends had been calling out few hours ago_.

Instead, he finds himself smiling at every pictures he drew, without any care about the thoughts left in the back of his head.

*

_He didn't know who and what started it._

_By the time Kuroo came to, they were already screaming at each other._

_Their cat had been making noises at the same time during their heated argument. Meowing at the two of them even after they stayed quiet before disappearing into the bedroom._

_Kenma sits on the couch while Kuroo stands across him and the center table, both catching their breath._

_They refuses to look at each other, nor make any sound. Kuroo is aware how a simple noise from either of them will turn into another fight and so does Kenma. So they both stays quiet._

_Silence drags for seconds, to minutes until Kenma pulls himself up to stand._

_"Where are you going?" Kuroo asks, his tone angry. Kenma turns to him with his eyebrows knitted together, tears forming in the eyes._

_"I'm leaving." He says back, sharp. As if Kenma’s words can almost hurt Kuroo physically._

_"Leaving?!"_

_"I said what I said. Don't follow me." Kenma stomps angrily towards their bedroom. He takes out a suitcase and starts throwing his clothes inside._

_Kuroo pulls at Kenma's suitcase, dropping it onto the floor where the cat hisses at them as it almost hit him. His clothes scattered across the floor. The room where they learned to love everything about each other, where they would spend days and nights in each other’s arms, has turned into a complete mess._

_"You're not going anywhere."_

_"What do you want me to do?" Kenma screams, his loud voice made Kuroo flinch._

_Years they've been together, Kenma never shouted at him like that. This wasn’t the first time they’ve gotten into an argument. All those years, they had their own misunderstandings but none of them chose to raise their voice. In the end, they would always find a way fix their problems. They would always talk it out, explain their own opinions the way the other would understand._

_Kuroo thinks it would end differently this time._

_Kenma rubs the tears off his eyes. "Fine. Take my things. I'm still leaving." He says as he walks out of the room, purposely bumping into Kuroo's shoulder._

_It breaks Kuroo's heart but he can feel the anger growing inside of him by the second. He follows Kenma outside and pulls him back by his wrist. "I said, you're_ not _going anywhere."_

_Kenma stops in his steps and uses his forearm to wipe another set of his tears._

_"This isn't going to work out anymore, Kuro." He turns to look at him. His voice had gotten less angrier but the pain mixing with it had been more perceptible. It hurts Kuroo more than when he could only hear anger in his voice. "Unless I go, we won't know what's wrong with us."_

_Kuroo desperately wants him to stop from going, just apologize for what he did wrong, fix whatever the problem is. Talk it out with Kenma, just like usual. Maybe this fight won’t be any different than their previous ones. Maybe he can still save them._

_But he feels like if he opens his mouth again, he would end up screaming in anger. And deep inside, he knew it’s the last thing that Kenma needed at their current situation._

_"We should take some time away from each other." Kenma says after a while._

_Suddenly, Kuroo feels tired. He releases Kenma's hand as he quietly hoped that Kenma would change his mind. That he'd realized how Kuroo knows that he made a mistake, that everything was his fault, that despite all the jarring words that they exchanged, this is him trying to apologize._

_Neither of them wants to admit it but after ten years of being childhood friends and another fifteen years as a couple, they have finally reached the point where they couldn't understanding one another with just their action anymore._

_Kuroo stays in his place. With clenched fists hanging at his sides, tears running down his cheeks and their cat purring softly against his foot, he watched Kenma walk out of their shared apartment._

*

Kuroo finally gets to sleep for nine hours without disturbance. Even so, here he is, in the cafeteria, looking like someone just ripped his project to pieces. He sighs for the tenth time that day, tapping the lead of his pencil against another blank sheet of paper.

Most times, drawing would help to improve his mood for the day.

However, after five sketches (which he thinks is a record), he still feels the same. _Angry and frustrated._

_Tap, tap._

Kuroo sighs once again.

_Tap, tap, tap._

Not far from his seat, he heard a familiar voice. With how loud and excited it is, he can already tell it was Hinata.

He could greet him like any other day but his mood refuses to do so. He kept his back on him, praying his messy hair won't give him up.

_Tap, tap._

He looks out of the window. Watching the shadow of the students pass by behind him starts to seem more interesting.

_Tap, tap, tap._

Kuroo sighs once more.

He still have two more classes to attend, half an hour to the next one, but he's tired already. It feels like he just spent five days straight in class, with no sleep. He doesn't feel good but it was not like he feels sick either.

_Tap, tap._

Perhaps it's time for him to go home instead.

_Tap, tap, tap._

Kuroo pulls out his phone to send a message to Akaashi when his hands froze after hearing another voice coming from the same direction where he heard Hinata's.

He could turn his head to look who it was, why it sounds so familiar, why the voice gives him pain and comfort at the same time in a way that Kuroo never thought was even possible.

 _Not yet_ , the voice inside his head tells him.

Kuroo brushes away the voice and hides his phone back in his pocket. He stands up after hiding all his stuff back to his bag, storming out of the cafeteria while thinking it was just another voice inside his head when he heard someone call him back.

_"Kuro?"_

*

Kuroo finds himself sitting in a dark, with a table in front of him and a flickering light bulb hanging on top. He snaps his head left and right but sees nothing beyond the darkness of the room.

Or wherever he is.

He looks down at his hands rested on the arms of the chair and realizes he can’t move. Kuroo notices how he can’t move his feet either.

It wasn’t exactly like his limbs were tied up. Not at all.

He simply just couldn’t move.

He hangs his head low as he watches his chest rise and fall in a quick pace due to his irregular heartbeat. Kuroo feels the air sucking the breath out of his body, his eyes watering, his nose clogging up. He tries to breathe through his mouth. _In-_

_Wait. Am I dreaming?_

Kuroo squeezes his eyes shut as he held the air he breathed in for few seconds. He needs to relax. Calm himself down and think.

_One, two, three-_

He snaps his eyes open and finds himself on his feet. The room suddenly turned white. The light and table, gone. His breathing is normal again and for some reason, even with the empty space, he feels comforted.

 _“Kuro.”_ A small voice calls from behind.

He turns around but sees nothing, no one. _I am definitely dreaming now,_ he thinks to himself and snorts.

 _“Tetsurou!”_ Another voice calls.

He blinks twice.

_A smaller body collided with his back, arms slipping around his waist. “Kenma!” He says, scolding. “Be careful.” Kuroo knits his eyebrows together as he turned himself around without removing Kenma’s arms._

_“What’s the rush?” He asks, bringing his own hands to Kenma’s face, squeezing his cheeks. Kuroo grins at the sight._

_“Stop that.” Kenma grumbles as he swats his hands off. Kuroo laughs and takes Kenma’s hands, pulling him close as he circles his arms around him again. He lowers his head to leave a chaste kiss on his forehead, whispering against his skin. “What’s wrong?”_

_He feels Kenma’s shoulders relax as he leans the side of his head against Kuroo’s chest._

_“I just feel like we haven’t seen each other for a long time.” Kenma says in the softest voice Kuroo ever heard him use._

Kuroo blinks once; the empty white room.

He blinks twice; _Kenma in his arms._

_“I can’t even recall the last time we were together,” Kenma continues to say. He looks up at Kuroo, his chin leaning against his chest._

_Kuroo takes the risk of softly pressing Kenma’s cheeks together for the second time and he smiles just as soft when Kenma just lets him._

_“We’re together.” Kuroo says as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world._

_Kenma slightly juts out his lower lip and pulls back, keeping his hands on Kuroo’s hips. “Yeah, well.” He shrugs. “If we can’t be together anymore, will you still find me?”_

_It’s a ridiculous thing to say, Kuroo wants to say. But seeing Kenma’s sincere eyes made him stop to make any retort that would end up offending his lover. “Of course,” he ends up saying, confidently._

_The corner of Kenma’s lips stretches into a smile as he gazes at Kuroo’s eyes, taking both of his hands. “I’ll always find you too.”_

_Kuroo wraps his arms around Kenma’s shoulders, hugging him close and tightly. “We’ll always find each other, wherever we are, no matter how long.”_

_The arms around Kuroo tightens as Kenma buries his face in his shirt, humming in acknowledgement of the promise that both of them will surely keep for the rest of their lives._

Kuroo blinks once, his circled arms hanging in the air.

He blinks twice and sees himself back in his bed, birds singing outside his window as the light from the morning sun illuminates his room.

*

Kuroo stopped dreaming after that and he also stopped wondering about it. It was no use thinking about something that seems fictional, anyway. Something that would make him seem like he's crazy for _falling in love with a dream_. He never even bothered opening the topic about it to any of his friends.

Although, most of them still gets confused and worried whenever they catch Kuroo staring at nowhere.

The sketchbook that was filled mostly with drawings of a mysterious boy had also been locked away in the deepest part of his drawer. He couldn’t throw it away, even though it was the best course of action. He decided to keep it in the end because, although it might sound unbelievable to some, Kuroo still treasures the nights he spent dreaming. Every single one of them.

Maybe it’s a story that he would end up telling his grandchildren. Kids love those kind of stories. A man falling in love with a mysterious person in his dreams. _Yeah,_ he can definitely hear the kids laughing at him already.

Kuroo leans his back against the tree, watching each of cherry blossoms petals fly with the wind. He closes his eyes to breathe in the air when a voice called him.

"Kuroo-san!"

Even without turning his head, he can tell Hinata was waving his hand around while running up towards him. He sighs in amusement of his own thought before finally turning to face the younger male.

What he isn’t expecting was another student walking beside him. He never met the Kageyama Tobio he once heard from Hinata but he knows this student isn't him.

"What are you doing here? Where's Bokuto-san?" He hears Hinata ask. Kuroo heard him loud and clear but he can't bring himself to answer back as his gaze remained locked on his friend.

Kuroo's eyes grew as he starts to recognize each of his features. His mid-long black hair, tied loosely. The glasses that he knows aren't supposed to be in his eyes but he thinks they looks cute, anyway.

Winter had passed yet he's still wearing a thick coat that seemed to protect him from the coldness of the snow, his hands tucked inside its pocket. The way he scrunches his nose while he glances at Hinata, rolling his eyes back to his shoes.

Kuroo feels like life is coming back to him, the images from his dreams which he thinks are memories from ages ago.

Hinata stares at him then back to Kenma, noticing the weird looks Kuroo is giving him. "Oh, right. Kuroo-san, this is Kenma," he introduces.

And finally. _Finally_. Kenma turns his head to meet Kuroo's gaze and they grew just as big as he first laid his eyes on him.

Even with their distance, Kuroo can hear Kenma's thoughts calculating at the sight of him. _Loud and clear. Just like old times._

"Kenma, this is Kuroo-san. Kuroo Tetsurou. You’ll definitely remember him with the weird hair and all."

Kenma looks at Hinata for a second before taking a step closer to Kuroo. The action made him Kuroo smile; he tried to contain it by biting his lower lip but fails to do so.

"Kuro," he says with a hint of longing in his voice. He seems uncertain with the nickname but smiles anyway. Hinata looks at Kenma surprised and confused at the sound of a friendly nickname and whispers a _do you know him_ loud enough for Kuroo to hear him as well. Kenma ignores the question.

There's a laugh itching up inside his throat but he can't bring himself to tear him eyes away from Kenma. _Not yet._

He closes his hand to a tight fist and opens it again before extending it to him. "Kenma," he calls back with watery eyes.

Kenma stares at the offered hand for a second before taking it as his lips curved into a smile. It looks so familiar that Kuroo wants nothing but to press them against his own.

"Nice to meet you," Kenma greets.

He squeezes Kenma's hand back as he takes a step closer. A lot closer than both of them would probably ever allow a complete stranger. "Nice to meet you too."

*

Kuroo proceeds towards the living room when no one greeted him by the front door. Kenma’s slouching on the couch while going through some kind of a book, his legs propped up on the center table.

“It’s five pm and you’re still in your pajamas,” he scolds even though he knew how his words would end up going in one ear and out the other. Kuroo sighs, shaking his head as the only respond he got from Kenma is silence. He didn’t even give him a quick glance.

 _Rude._ He snorts at his own thought and plops himself beside Kenma, looking over his shoulder. “What’s that?”

Kuroo’s eyes widens when he noticed Kenma wasn’t even reading a book. It was a sketchbook with familiar face drawn on it. Kuroo’s sketches of Kenma few years back.

“Where did you get that?” He asks in panic.

The corner of Kenma’s lips pulls to a small smirk. “I saw it in one of your unopened boxes inside the closet.”

Kuroo narrows his eyes, his arms crossed over his chest like a child. “Why did you go through my stuff?”

“Because I want to?” Kenma simply answers. Kuroo sighs defeatedly as he slaps a hand on his face.

“You told me you haven’t seen me prior to our first meeting. What’s this then? You’ve been stalking me?” Kenma teases while turning to the next sketch.

“What? No! I just.. drew what I had in mind back then. I don’t know. I can’t remember.” Kuroo groans.

Kenma releases a laugh as he reached the last page and closes the sketchbook, tossing it to the table. “I was just messing with you,” he says, pulling himself up to sit more properly.

“Kenmaaaa,” Kuroo whines, dropping his arms around Kenma’s shoulders. “Stop bullying me. I’m spent.”

“Those drawings look exactly like me though,” Kenma says as if he was complimenting him when Kuroo can clearly hear the judgement in the tone of his voice. He looks up at him and sees him smirking, still.

He whines a little louder and leans more of his weight on Kenma, resulting to both of them falling on the couch. “Kuro, you’re heavy!” Kenma complains while slapping his back.

Kuroo wants to get his own revenge so he sneaks his arms around Kenma’s waist, squeezing him tightly against his own body, his face buried against the crook of his neck.

Kenma tries to push Kuroo by his shoulder, hits the back of his head and pinches his arm but he refuses to budge. In the end, Kenma gave up which Kuroo laughs at.

He rests his head against Kenma’s chest, his fingers playing with Kuroo’s unruly hair.

They stayed on the couch while Kenma watches the orange light coming from the sunset passing through their open windows. Kuroo has his eyes closed, feeling comforted with the fingers on his head and the beating sound of Kenma’s heart.

Kenma lightly taps his shoulder, waking him up. “We have to prepare something for dinner.”

Kuroo rubs his eye and supports himself up with a hand beside Kenma’s head. “Okay, I’m up,” he says groggily.

Kenma takes a second to stare at his sleepy boyfriend before pulling him back by his shirt, waking Kuroo up instantly.

“What?!” He asks, surprised.

“I forgot to say it,” Kenma starts to say, touching both of Kuroo’s cheeks while his forearms drops on each side of Kenma’s head. “Welcome home.”

The greeting caught him off guard even though he knows it shouldn’t. It had been a routine, a tradition, to greet someone back home. Yet, Kuroo finds himself not getting used to the domestic feeling it brings.

Kuroo leans down and with a smile, he softly presses his forehead against Kenma’s. “I’m home,” he says back in a manner he had been doing for the past years, and most likely, for the years to come.

**Author's Note:**

> sorry for the mistakes, I didn't have time to check everything again. ><
> 
> happy kuroken day. <3


End file.
